Inking device of flat bed cylinder printing machines



.A. SCHLESINGER Nov. 11, 1941.

INKING DEVICE OF FLAT BED CYLINDER PRINTING MACHINES Filed Dec. 10, 19383 Sheets-Sheet 1 ATTORNEY W 1* Ndv. 1 1 ,--l 941. A. SCHLESINGER INKINGDEVICE OF FLAT BED CYLINDER PRINTiNG MACHINES Filed Dec. 10, 1958 3Sheets-Sheet 2 v INVENTOR ATTORNEY Nov. 11, 1941.

' A. SCHLESINGER INK ING DEVICE OF FLAT BED CYLINDER PRINTING MACHINES I3 Sheets-Sheet 3 Filed Dec. 10, 1938 W ATTDRIVE) Patented Nov. 11, 1941QINKING nEvioE oF FLATBEfiQYLINDER PRINTING MAQHINES t a H AlfredSchlesinger, m n e-airsp c n land Applieation December '16, 19ss, sna1,vd; 245,046" i In Great Britain December/13, 193"? y 14 cla m (01. 1oi356),

i The; present invention relatesto the inking idevices I of flat-bedlcylinder printing machines of the two-revolution type uandof theWharfedale, or. stop-cylinder type in which. the sheetis fed, v anddelivered, at opposite ends of themachine.

In. general in these machines the ink is taken moves with thereciprocating bed first I under distributing rollers which-spread theink over the wholeor a lar'gelsurface of the slab and then carryroundebetween them an isolated'supply of from a duct rolleroroylindeno'nto a slab which" v he im o ,o c cting or s stating,iforme-engaging rollers they supply, are driven insuch a mannerthattheir circumferential surfaces run inrunison with the type bed; butlnaddition, rollers maybe provided, preferably-,in different sets or 1pairs, which serve to ing distribution but also of frictionally heatingunder rollers which take'off'the ink directly from the slab and deliverit to the printing forme. 'Ihe main' object of the present invention isto pher'eand dust'and dirt" is unduly liable tosettle thereon.

ding to the j present" invention the ma chine comprises one or moreinkreceiving rollers Iprior to-beingtransferredcfromsuch rollers to i theinking rollers or; to the distributors which rotate in co-ordinationwith the f orm'e-engaging rollers; and type bed. Where-the ink issotreated, @JnQIjB viscous ink thanusual may be employed.

'Ihese1'ink-Working rollers may berun at comparatively high speed inrelation: to the speed of arranged to travel with the bed andto carjrythe inkfdelivered from the duct rollerjalong'the ma" ehi'ne without"distributing'the ink over -a "slabf enact deliver it directly, orthrough intermediate means, to rollers which supply the forme engagmgrollersand which distribute theink beforeit is suppliedtosucliflform'efengaging rollers The ink may be delivered to thetravellingroller froinf 5 the duct rollen-by a swinging roll-er; Thedistribute-r rollers preferably form with the forme-j engaging rollers apyramidal series, and by means:

of this invention the; stripe can be transferred to"theupperrnost ro11erof the seriesso, that their ink crinnotreaohtheiorme until it has beenwell distributed through the series oflrollersfl Thetrayellingfinkwoller may be lb 'nught at the appropriate time intocontact with .th-e ldistributors, e. g., byswingingup tofthe distributorrol1ers,-or one "or more "separate transferiollers may be interpdsed,betweenithe rbllencarried by the bed and 'the distributonrollers and bemoV- able at the appropriate time iniorder to 'eliect theltransfer. M- gPreferably Ireplaceflthe slab bytwoor more rollers which move with thebed andl arrange 'fOIf ink to be delivered to one or more of them fromthe duct 1 roller, these travellingrollers act- ,inglon the inkandedistributing the-inkjover their,

surfaces whilst thebed isi making; the advance stroke during,whichprinting takes place; The ink is transferred from. such rollers tothe distributor rollers; e. .g., by one or more of-the rollersmovingwiththe bed coming into contact with the distributor r0l1ers,-'e.g bysWinging-up Provision maybe-made for eli'ectingapreliminary=distribution orworking up oi the ink on co-operatingfrollersqat the ductqend of the ma chineand such means may be used fordistributingithe ink over the surfacejof the travelling be arranged atorp'near, the rear edge formeecarrying partofcthe bed, i ":In-order'thatth'e invention maybe the more readily understood, reference is madeto 0011-,

structional forms, thereofjillustrated by Way of outlines and Fig. 2isA-a longitudinal section thr-oughthelupper part of Fig. 1 showingvarious parts omittedin ordertoillustrate clearlythe arrangement ,of therollers according to the invention; In this form of 'the apparatus twotravelling rollers are provided. Fig. 3 isa detail view I ofthe mountingof the? upper travelling rollers;

, Fig. 4 shows diagrammatically an alternative formof the invention inwhich theiinkis carried along the machine on a' single'rollerm Fig. 5

isqa detail View of: a further modification. Fig;

6qisa; detail View of a modified devicefor supplying'a travelling rollerand Fig.-7 shows anotheri'means- -of supplying ink to the travelling vthe vibrator IO1112 on to the roller 28 The duct roller-may be drivenintermittently and the ex tent; of rotation' may be varied by Well-knownmea'nsyto regulate the width of the stripe or band which is received bythevibrator roller The vibrator is-"freely rotatable uponthe arms orwill serve in order that the ink may be transferred to the The printingcylinder 5 is arranged roller 28. medially of the machine as is usual intwo-revolution machines and in that class of stop-cylinder machine inwhich the feed is at one end of the machine and delivery at the other.The drawings illustrate diagrammatically the feed table 6 and thedelivery device I. The latter may take the form of endless tapes. Thefeeding and delivering means may be of the usual forms to be found inmachinesof the kind just referred to, and as these means form no part ofthe present invention, they will not be described in detail herein. Thearrangement of the delivery device ordinarily makes it impracticable orinconv'enl entto arrange a system of distributors in close vicinity tothe cylinder and with a duct adjacent to the upper distributor, but inaccordance with this invention the ink delivered on to the roller 28from the duct, which may be kept at one end of the machine as shown, iscarried along towards the cylinder upon the roller, but the roller,instead of delivering the ink on to the rollers 8 which engage the formeI la is arranged to stop short of the said rollers at the positionindicated in dotted lines in the drawings. Upon the forme-engagingrollers 8 I mount a series of distributor rollers 8 forming with therollers 8 a pyramidal system.

In the form shown the ink is not delivered directly on to the uppermostroller of the pyramidal series, but a system of rollers is introducedbetween the travellingrollers and the uppermost roller 20 of the pyramidwhich have the effect of working-up the ink and frictionally heating itprior to its being transferred to the pyramid. These rollers include twosets II, I2 of rollers, each set in the form illustrated consisting ofthree rollers and they are mounted on a carrier I3 which rocks about theaxis I4. Each set of three may comprise a steel roller I5, I5a and twohard rubber rollers I6, IEa, I1, I la and the sets are arrangedalternately to contact with a positively driven steel roller I8. Therollers may be of smaller diameter than the distributors to facilitatethe repeated passage of the ink between the co-operating rollers.

The drawings show the roller I5a in contact with the roller 29 andfollowing the next or after twoor more printing operations the system ofrollers I5 to Ila rocks so that the steel roller I5 will be brought intocontact with the travelling roller 29 at the appropriate time andsimultaneously the rubber roller I! of the set which has been in runningcontact with the fixed geared roller I8 is drawn away from such rollerwhilst the rubber roller IIa of the other set is brought into contacttherewith. A vibrator I9 rodks between the geared roller I8 and theuppermost roller 20 of the pyramidal series of distributors, running incontact first with the roller I8 and then with the roller 20. Thisarrangement permits of the ink being well worked up and frictionallyheated to assist in bringing it to good printing consistency, theprovision of two sets of ink-working rollers being advantageous as anisolated quantity of ink can be kept on one set fo-r'alonger period oftime than if a single set were employed. The provision of theseinkworking rollers enables the machine more readily to deal wtih thehighly viscous inks.

I engagement with the fixed roller I8.

The pyramidal series of rollers may include, in addition to the uppersteel roller 20, positively driven steel rollers 2I and two intermediatecomposition rollers 22, the lower steel rollers supplying the formeengaging rollers 8. More distributing rollers could be included wherespace permits or other arrangements of the distributing rollers could beemployed. The distributing rollers 20 to 22 will be run in unison withthe forme-engaging rollers 8 at the speed of the type bed.

The ink is thereafter carried through the distributors 20 to 22 to therollers 8.

The roller 28 of the pair which travel with the bed is geared by apinion 25 to a fixed rack 26 on the machine frame. A strip or band ofink is delivered to the lower roller 23 from the duct roller I by meansof vibrator 2. The travelling roller 28 is positively driven from therack 26, this roller being conveniently a steel roller and frictionallydriving the roller 29 which is preferably of composition. These tworollers act on th ink whilst the bed is travelling'and distribute theink over their surfaces. The composition roller in this; way receives adistributed charge of ink and the roller is itself rocked at theappropriate time during the travel of the bed about its pivot 30 fortransferring the ink thereon to the rollers I5; I5a;

Fig. 1 shows the details of construction and operation of the machine.tributors 9- is derived from a rack I00 travelling with the bed I'Illandforme Ila, the two steel rollers 2| being positively driven by pinionwheels I02, I83 from the rack so that all the rollers 9 run at thesurface speed of the bed. The rollers I5 to Ila however which rotate ata considerably higher surface speed are driven from the high speed shaftI04, itself driven from the shaft I05 of the machine through a chainI06. The drive from the shaft I04 isthrough chain I 01 t0 the fixedshaftI08 carrying a spur wheel I09 which is engaged by spur wheels III],II I on the steel rollers I5, I5a. The rocking carrier I3 is attached toa link H 2 connected through rod II2a to a lever II 2b which has aroller H20 engaged by a cam II3 having a high portion II4 which turnsthe carrier against the force of spring H5 in order to bring the rollersI5a, IGa, Ila into The cam shaft I I6 is driven by chain drive II! fromshaft I-I8 which is driven through gearing II 9, I20, I2I, I22 from themain shaft I05.

The fixed roller I8 carries a pinion I23 which gears with pinion I89.Ink is supplied from the fixed roller I8 to the upper distributor roller20 by a vibrator roller I 9 the arm carrying which is connected to alever I23 by a link I24, this lever carrying a roller I26 tracking a camI21 by which the lever I23 is periodically rocked to rock the vibratorI9. The shaft I21 of the cam I25 is driven by chain drive I28 from shaftII 8. The link I24 is returned by spring I29.

The means for reciprocating the bed IOI carrying the forme may be as isusually employed in the class of machines above referred to. For

example, a common method of reciprocating the bed in a two-revolutionpress of commercial form comprises a pair of racks I30, I3I carried bythe bed and engaged in turn by a spur wheel I32,

e the spur wheel shifting at the end of each stroke in order to bedisengaged from one rack and engaged with the other. In the form shownthe continuously rotating spur wheel I32 is mounted in a frame. I33which has a small vertical movement which allows the wheel to engagealternate- The drive for the disly with the top and bottom rack, theframe carrying a depending arm I34 at the end' of which is a roller I36which works in a cam I mounted on the shaft I I8.

The roller 29 (see Figs. 1 and 3) is carried by a lever I31 the rear ofwhich is provided with a roller I38 which engages a fixed cam I39 so asto rock the. roller 29 into engagement with roller I5 or [5:1 and thebearing I40 for theaxle 30 of the lever may be yieldingly held by aspring MI in a recess in the bed so as to allow the bed to continueitsmovement while the roller 29 dwells in inking contact with the rollerI5 or I511.

The arm 4 is yieldingly connected through spring I42 to the leverI43sothat when engaged by the travelling roller 28 the arm 4 rocks aboutitspivotal connection I44 to the lever I43 against the force of thespring I42 so that the vibrator roller dwells in contact with thetravelling roller for a sufficient length of time. 'The means forrocking the arm 4 and the means for periodically turning the ductorroller I may be of any usual well-known type found in commercialtwo-revolution or stop cylinder machines. For example, the arm I43carries the arm I44a which is slotted adjustably to receive the pin I45of a long link I46 connected to a lever I4I carrying a roller I48 whichis tracked by a cam I49 mounted on the shaft H8. The pawl I50 whichoperates the ratchet I5I of. the duct roller iscarried by a lever I52pivoted at [53 to a two arm lever I54 pivoted at I55 to the frame andpivoted at I56 to a long link I5'I whose other end is pivoted to a leverI58 carrying a rollerv I59 which tracks the cam ISIImounted on the camshaft I I8.

In the variant form shown in Fig. 3 a single roller 24 is carried by thebed in lieu of a plurality of rollers as in the first form described anda composition vibrator 21 is provided which is brought into contact withthe roller 24 during the travel of the latter and is frictionally drivenin contact therewith for a sufficient time to take off the necessaryquantity of ink. In this form' as in the first form described the inkneed not be delivered directly by the vibrator 21 to theupperrnostroller of the pyramidal series but a system of rollers II, I2may be introduced for working up the ink. The transfer roller 21 isarranged to be moved at the appropriate time into contactwithroller 24,e. g., at the position A while the roller 24 is travelling and leavingroller 24 before the latter reaches position B.

The ink need not be passed through intermediate ink working rollersprior to passing to the distributors. It can be transferred from theroller 24 to the first distributor roller 20 in various ways. A formwhich avoids the use of long arms for carrying the vibrator roller isshownin Fig. 5 in which there is provided an intermediate geared rollerIBI which receives ink from the roller 24, a vibrator roller I62 takingtheink from the geared roller to the distributor 20. The roller 24 isina bearing I63 which is slidable in a recess in the forme bed againstthe pressure of a spring I 64. The vibratorI5I is actuated by a link I65similarly to the vibrator I9 (Fig.1). A

One or more of the rollers which travel with the bed may be freelyrotatable atleast when they are at the duct end of their travel andarranged to be driven when the bed is at or near the endof its movementin the direction of the ink duct. This is preferably effected byinterposing (seeFigsjS and 7,) rollers 40, M which transmit frictionaldrive to the bed roller 39 and which are driven, e. g. from a "suitable'chain drive 42. These rollers (hereinafter termed the driven rollers)may be rotated continuously or rotated only when the bed roller orrollers are approaching them and whilst contact between the drivenrollers and the bed rollers is required. One positively driven roller 40can as shown drive the other or others by friction.

The driven rollers may be arranged to move e. g., to rock and maintaincontact with the bed rollers for a suflicientlengthof time whilst thebed is travelling (see Fig. 6).. Alternatively the bed roller could beunder the control of a spring 43 so as to keep them in contact withstationary driven rollers for the necessary time (see Fig. '7)

By driving the bed roller in the way above described the ink is welldistributed over thesurface of the roller inspite of the fact that thebed roller need not rotate during the travel of the bed.

.Cam means for operating the vibrator rollers are not illustrated assuchmeans are well known in the art, as also are the means forreciprocating and guiding the bed.

I claim: i

1. Inking apparatus for a fiat bed cylinder printing machine comprisinga reciprocating bed, a printing forme carried thereby. an ink duct,forme-engaging rollers arranged to make inking contact with said formeas the bed travels, distributing rollers arranged in inksupplyingrelation to said formeenga'ging rollers, means fo'r carrying. ink fromsaid, duct to said distributing rollers, said means including at leastone roller carried by said bed and travelling therewith between saidductand saiddistributing rollers,

2. Inking apparatus for a flat bed cylinder printing machine comprisinga reciprocating bed, a printing forme carried thereby; an ink duct,forme-engaging rollers arranged to make inking contact with said formewhile the bed travels, distributing rollers arranged in inksupplyingrelation to said forme-engaging rollersfmeans for carrying ink from saidduct to said distributing rollers, said means including a plurality ofrollershcarried by said bed, means for rotating said travelling rollersin cooperation whilst they are travelling with thebed in order todistribute the ink over their surfaces.

3. Inking apparatus of a flat bed printing machine comprising areciprocating bed, a printing forme carried thereby, an ink duct, aseries of rollers, said series including forme-engaging rollers arrangedto" make inking'contact with said forme as the bed travels, said seriesof rollers including rollers adapted .frictionally to work ink beforeits transfer to said forme-engaging rollers, means for effecting suchtransfer, at least one roller carried by said bed and travellingtherewith, means for operativelyrelating a said travelling roller inink-transfer ring relation tosaid ink-working rollers duringapredetermihed part of the travel of said bed and means for maintainingat least some of said ink working rollers temporarily out of inkingengagement with said forme-engaging rollers during a period of workingup of the ink.

4. Inking apparatus of a flat bed cylinder printing machine comprising areciprocating bed, a printing forme carried thereby, an ink duct,forme-engaging rollers arranged to make inking contact with said formeas it reciprocates, and ink distributing rollers rotatablecontinuouslyin inking relation with said formeengaging rollers, a plurality of setsof preliminary distributing. rollers, means for conveying ink from saidduct to said latter rollers, said means including. at least one rollermounted to reciprocat'e with said bed, said sets of preliminarydistributing rollers being operative in turn temporarily to isolate fromsaid first distributing rollers and frictionally to work a charge of inkreceived from said travelling roller and then to supply said firstdistributing rollers with previously isolated and worked ink.

5. Inking apparatus for a flat bed cylinder printing machine comprisinga reciprocating bed, a printing forme carried thereby, an ink duct,forme-engaging rollers arranged to make inking contact with said formeas it travels, distributing rollers arranged in ink-supplying relationto said forme-engaging rollers, means for carrying ink from said duct tosaid distributing rollers, said means including a plurality of rollerscarried by said bed and travelling therewith, means for rotating saidtravelling rollers in co-operation while they move with the bed andmeans for separating said rollers and bringing at least one of saidrollers into inktransferring engagement with said distributing rollersduring a predetermined part of the travel of said bed.

6. Inking apparatus for a flat bed cylinder printing machine comprisinga reciprocating bed, a printing forme carried thereby, an ink duct,forme-engaging rollers arranged to make inking contact with said formeas it travels, distributing rollers arranged in continuous inksupplyingengagement with said forme-engaging rollers, and forming therewith apyramidal series, means for carrying ink from said duct to the uppermostroller of said distributing rollers, said means including at least oneroller carried by said bed.

7. Inking apparatus for a flat bed cylinder printing machine comprisinga reciprocating bed, a printing forme carried thereby, an ink duct,forme-engaging rollers arranged to make inking contact with said formeas it travels, distributing rollers arranged in ink-supplying relationto said forme-engaging rollers, means for carrying ink from said duct tosaid distributing rollers, said means including a plurality of rollerscarried by said bed, means for positively driving at least one of saidlatter rollers whilst it is travelling and at least one other of saidrollers being mounted so as to be frictionally driven by said positivelydriven roller and means for separating said travelling rollers andbringing said frictionally driven roller into inking contact with saiddistributing rollers during a predetermined part of the travel of thebed.

8. Inking apparatus for a flat bed cylinder printing machine comprisinga reciprocating bed, a printing forme carried thereby, an ink duct,forme-engaging rollers arranged to make inking. contact with said formeas it travels, distributing rollers arranged in ink-supplying relationto said forme-engaging rollers, means for carrying ink from said duct tosaid distributing rollers, said means including a plurality of rollerscarried by said bed, a pinion attached to one of said rollers, a fixedrack, said pinion being arranged to gear with said rack as the bedtravels thereby to rotate said roller, at least one other travellingroller being in frictional driving relation to said positively drivenroller and serving as an ink-transfer roller.

9. An inking, apparatus as in claim 1, comprising a ductor roller, meansfor rocking said roller between said duct and a said travelling roller.means resiliently mounting said ductor roller so that it yields to thepressure of the travelling roller and maintains contact therewith duringa predetremined part of the travel of the bed.

10. Inking apparatus according to claim 1, comprising means resilientlymounting a said travelling roller for a limited relative movement withrespect to the bed, said travelling roller being arranged to contactsaid distributor rollers during a part of the travel of the bed duringwhich said relative movement occurs to provide a prolonged dwell betweensaid travelling roller and said distributors whilst the bed is stilltravelling.

11. Inking apparatus of a cylinder printing machine according to claim2, comprising a roller for charging with fresh ink at least one of saidtravelling rollers and another roller for taking off ink from at leastone of said travelling rollers, means for maintaining said chargingroller and its co-operating travelling roller in. contact during a partof the travel of the latter to enable it to take up a sufiicienoy of inkand means to maintain said take-off roller and its co-operatingtravelling roller in contact during a part of the travel of the(Bo-operating travelling roller to enable said take-off roller toreceive a sufiiciency of ink.

12. Inking apparatus of a flat bed cylinder printing machine comprisinga reciprocating bed, a printing forme carried thereby, an ink duct,forme-engaging rollers arranged to make inking contact with said formeas it reciprocates and ink distributing rollers rotatable continuouslyin inking relation with said forms-engaging rollers, means for rotatingsaid forme and distributing rollers, a plurality of sets of preliminarydistributing and ink-working rollers interposed between said firstdistributing rollers and said duct, means for rotating said preliminarydistributing rollers at a considerably greater peripheral speed thanthat of said first distributing rollers, means for conveying ink fromsaid duct to said preliminary distributing rollers, said means includingat least one roller mounted to reciprocate with said bed, said sets ofpreliminary distributing rollers being operative in turn temporarily toisolat from said first distributing rollers and frictionally to work acharge of ink received from said travelling roller and then to supplysaid first distributing rollers with previously isolated and worked ink.

13. Inking apparatus for a flat bed cylinder printing machine comprisinga reciprocating bed, a printing forme carried thereby, an ink duct,forme-engaging rollers arranged to make inking contact with said formeas it travels, distributing rollers arranged in ink-supplying relationto said forme-engaging rollers, means for carrying ink from said duct tosaid distributing rollers, said means including at least one rollercarried by said bed, a roller movable between said travelling roller andthe duct, means for driving said movable roller and means mounting saidtravelling I roller so that it is frictionally driven by said movableroller when the bed is travelling nearest to the duct.

14. A printing machine according to claim 13, comprising two or morerollers between the duct and the travelling roller which effect apreliminary distribution of the ink.

ALFRED SCl-ILESINGER.

